Family murder trial told of death threat

August 27, 2003 — 10.00am

Teddy Gonzales received a death threat warning that his family would be "eliminated" over a failed property deal two months before they were allegedly killed by his son, Sef, a Sydney court was told yesterday.

For the first time, the court heard about an alternative motive for the killings, with Bernardo David, a colleague of Mr Gonzales, detailing knowledge of a murder threat.

Mr David said he saw Teddy Gonzales embroiled in a heated conversation in the office of his Blacktown law firm. The 46-year-old immigration lawyer was yelling down the phone in the Filipino language Tagalog.

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Clearly agitated, Mr Gonzales screamed: "F--- you!"

Mr David pulled him out of the office and suggested they go for a walk to calm down.

"What's wrong, Ted?" he asked his friend. A property transaction in the Philippines had fallen through, Mr Gonzales replied.

"Now my brother said they are going to eliminate my family," he told Mr David. They never discussed the matter again.

On July 10, 2001, Teddy Gonzales, his wife Mary Loiva, 43, and their daughter Clodine, 18, were stabbed in their home in Collins Street, North Ryde.

Eleven months later, their only son, Sef, 22, was charged with the murders.

During his murder committal hearing at the Downing Centre Local Court yesterday, Sef's aunt, Emily Luna, gave evidence. She arrived at the home about 6pm on the night of the murders.

The court was shown a police reconstruction video of her movements. A white light shines from inside the house, and Sef Gonzales's green Ford Festiva is parked in the driveway.

Mrs Luna told the court that as she pulled up, her eyes were alerted to a flash of movement behind the frosted glass panel at the front door.

After ringing the doorbell, she noticed through the glass a man about 160 centimetres tall wearing a jacket and a cap.

"I said to my son, 'Oh, I thought there was a man' and my son said, 'No, it's not, mum. It's just a coat and hat stand'," she told the court.

Mrs Luna stood at the door for about five minutes before walking around to the side entrance.

"I was curious why the light was on," she said. "I thought maybe someone was at home. But as I reached this point, something stopped me and I just changed my mind . . . something just stopped me."

The Gonzales family had six small dogs which normally barked loudly from inside the house when someone came to the door, she told the court.

But that day, Mrs Luna said, she heard no noise. Not one of the dogs barked.